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Common Casino Gambling Bias

Bias forms a major part of our day to day thinking. For many different reasons we can make decisions based on a preexisting bias. When gambling, we fall to the same ways of thinking, even if it's incorrect. Casino gambling bias can lead a gambler to make bone-headed calls and foolish bets. This is because bias can over-ride sensible thinking. Bias bends the thought process away from the logical, which can prove costly because gambling is about nothing more than the mathematics of probability

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Common Casino Gambling Bias

In our day to day lives, it’s impossible to avoid bias. It could be argued that we develop bias as a means of survival. back when we needed to be wary of where we went lest we be eaten by a large animal to how our food smells, all have become built-in biases to help us avoid death or injury. But in our safe and modern lives, bias is less of a useful faculty. But it can still colour our vision and lead us to make foolish mistakes with a hope to increase your jackpot winning chances. And now where is this seen more than in the casino. If you can recognise your casino gambling bias before it leads you to make a silly or costly mistake, then all the better. To that end, we’ve compiled a list of common biases we can find in the casino environment.

The Gambler’s Fallacy

Otherwise known as an example of the “representativeness heuristic”, this is a very common misconception. The term was first used in 1971 by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. It’s the belief that prior events will have an impact on future events. Take a short walk around any casino and you’ll see this way of thinking in play. Stand by the roulette table and you’ll see gamblers taking a punt on red or black. Now we all know that there’s an equal chance of either result, over many spins. So, over 1 million spins we should see an evenly split result between the two colours. But watch most players and you’ll see that they think, that if five reds have turned in a row, then now they must be “due” a black. This is a classic example of casino gambling bias. The mistake here is thinking that the 50:50 split will function with just a few spins. It matters not what the last result was. The next spin will always have the same probability of 50:50. It’s the same with a coin toss. If the previous results were a string of heads, it doesn’t mean that tails are due. The next spin restarts the probability at 50:50. As a gambler, knowing this should stop you from predicting one outcome as being more likely than another. We go into greater depth to disprove the gambler’s fallacy in another article.

Common Casino Gambling Bias: Betting Outcome Bias

This is the idea that when you’re incorrect with a future prediction, then you made the “wrong” decision. If you’re seated at the blackjack table and have 18 in your hand. The dealer holds 16. With those numbers, you know that you should “stay”. But then the dealer draws a 4 and wins. At this point, you might say that you made the wrong decision, and maybe in the next round when you find yourself with 18, this time you’ll hit. The thing to keep in mind is that in all casino games there’s a mathematically or statistically perfect way of playing. Making the correct play according to basic strategy doesn’t mean that you’re going to win every hand. It’s all about the long term approach. It’s the same story with playing at online casinos. For example, if you’re playing at 22Bet Casino, then you should try and remember that you should be looking at your long term results.

Gambling Confirmation Bias

This is probably one of the most common days to day biases we come across every day. It affects decisions from the voting booth to the stock exchange. It’s when people seek out information that backs up a previously conceived notion while ignoring evidence to the contrary. Just take a look at any Facebook posting about politics or Brexit to see this bias at work. Once again, seated at the jackpot poker table, we can see an inexperienced player make a basic mistake. And as he does so the whole table groans. The implication being that this player has somehow messed up the game for the rest of us. But in reality, the inexperienced player is not to blame for the results. He quite equally might have caused another player to receive a more favourable card. So, it’s best to always try and be objective.

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Common Casino Gambling Bias: Betting Recency Bias

Once again yet another common form of bias that we can also see in our everyday lives. More recent events tend to stay in our memories longer. That’s pretty obvious. But what’s not so obvious is how the more recent events affect our decision making on a subconscious level. And that’s what makes this form of bias so difficult to rectify. With casino gambling bias, you’re more likely to notice this in sports bettors.

Casino Optimism Bias

Optimism and pessimism have no place at the casino games table. This is similar to letting your emotions take over your decision making processes. It’s the same story with “positive thinking”. These things do make a difference in the long run and may cause costly problems. Having self-belief is one thing, but being overconfident over a game of chance is not a good idea. Yes, of course, any decision you make at the casino is a deliberate one and you need to believe that you’re correct. But over-belief is a problem. You can see a more exaggerated form of over-belief after a few cocktails. You’ll see those who have managed a couple of wins start to get cocky and begin placing bets on jackpot games when they really shouldn’t. We want you to be a happy gambler. But at the same time, we need you to keep it all real.

Conclusion: Common Casino Gambling Bias

At the gaming table, some form of casino gambling bias affects all of us. Even playing online at a casino like 22Bet Casino. But if you can be self-aware enough to re-evaluate your decisions whilst gambling then you have a good chance of remaining objective. This is the best course of action if you want to gamble and have fun as well as protect your hard-earned bankroll.